A weekend in Madrid

As European cities go, I've never really heard anyone rave about Madrid the way they may do say about Paris, Amsterdam or Berlin. If you were thinking of going to Spain, Barcelona gets a lot of the spotlight. While these are all great cities, I'd have to say Madrid has slid into number 2 spot (Number 1 is joint between London and Paris- I cannot decide between the two). I went for 3 days as it was only a 6 hour bus ride from Malaga and I had the time (it was a while ago, around the beginning of February and it was freezing). Luckily a friend from uni had done her autumn semester here and had written an article that was really helpful (here). So, I went with a vague plan to see and eat as much as I could.

Saturday

So I arrived Friday night and pretty much found the closest Turkish restaurant to my hostel then conked out. Saturday I woke up around 8 and made my way to 'Museo Nacional de Prado'. Kind of a mistake as the museum doesn't actually open until 10. Luckily there was a Starbucks and I had a book. I headed back around 9:45 and there was already a queue forming so I would defiantly suggest getting there for opening. For me it was worth going just to see Goya's black paintings which have a whole room dedicated to them. I spent around 2 hours in there and say I saw the majority of the work. It is not on the same scale of the Louvre in terms of having to take multiple trips. Slightly museumed out, I headed to Calle Velarde which is just above the museums in the Malasaña district. I wanted to look around the vintage shops and with much prior googling, this was the place to go (my personal favourite, 'Magpie'). It wasn't wrong. There were also a lot of places to get lunch and the whole area had a nice vibe- a lot of people though. I then decided to do all the tourist sites so I walked back down to the centre and hit the 'Puerta del Sol' (one of the main plazas) where there were a lot of protesting taxi drivers so I moved on to the 'Plaza Mayor'. This was my favourite out of the two because it's quite an enclosed space with multiple high arches that lead into it. It reminded me of Covent Garden as there were performers and a lot of places to get coffee.

Continuing in the vain of tourist spots, I then went to the 'Palacio Real de Madrid' which has incredible views. I would recommend going to see it even if you don't go into the palace. This day was not particularly, greatly organised because I decided to go back to my starting point (on the other side of the city, thank god for Metros) and go to 'Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza'. All the main museums are on one side of the city on the same main avenue so do couple if you're there. And. if you go to one museum in Madrid, go to this one. The curation of the art work is phenomenal and ranges back from the 15th century right up to present day. You start on the second floor and work your way down (or up) through the ages. If you're a bit of an art nerd, you will be in your element. Working in a bit more of a logical order, I then headed behind the museum where you'll find 'El Retiro' which is the main park. If trees aren't really your thing there a couple of museums in there, 'El Palacio de Velazquez' and the 'Palacio de Cristal'. There is also a lake where you can hire a rowing boat. And after this, my feet said "no more", and I retired to the hostel.

Sunday
I woke up, feet recovered, and headed to my favourite past time on a Sunday; brunch. I decided on the 'Pum Pum café' in the southern district of Lavapies. This is because I wanted to go to 'El Rastro flea market' afterwards, also in Lavapies (today I had a plan that consisted less of aimless wondering and more aimed towards organised sightseeing in order to lessen the strain on my feet). This café is adorable and extremely cosy. I got there just after 9, and luckily so because by 10 a queue was already forming outside. Very nice food, very nice atmosphere. I then headed to the aforementioned flea market not really knowing what I'd find. What I found was a a very long main road situated on quite an incline that you could just wonder down and look at all the stalls. And there was a stall for everything. It was an extremely random collation of stuff but worth going if only for the giant tables covered in clothes. I think I'm going to be haunted by the memory of a fleece lined, yellow rain jacket for 5 euros. When I got to the bottom of the hill I turned left and walked up to the 'Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia'. Inside you will find Picasso's 'Guernica' as well as really interesting more cultural inspired exhibitions. When I went there was one called 'The Poetics of Democracy' about the Spanish revolution and 'Hospice of Failed Utopias' by Luis Camnitzer. I then jumped on the metro to head to the opposite side of the city to go to another park, 'Rosaleda del Parque del Oeste' where you can find 'El Templo de Debod'. The temple is 2nd century Egyptian temple that was given to Spain. I loved this park as it was really high up so you could look back down over the city. It also has lots of benches so you can recover from the walk up (to get there you have to scale a pretty steep hill). I then looked around the neighbourhood heading back into the Chaberí district, which is right next to Malasaña. It was Sunday, meaning everything was closed apart from Starbucks, so I sat down with a hot chocolate. I then looked around bit more, headed back to my hostel and got dinner from a sushi place that I'm not going to recommend (overpriced and underflavoured). In the evening I went to a late showing of 'The Favourite' which I'm definitely going to have to watch again in English.

Monday
To start the day I headed back up to Malsaña and went to 'The Toast Café'. After walking solidly for 2 days, I decided to do the same today. I headed down to the 'Palacio Real de Madrid' which is used for state ceremonies and is the official residence of the Spanish royals. This time the queue wasn't that long so I decided to go inside. There is a big courtyard with an incredible view over the mountains that encircle Madrid. I headed inside to the living quarters, which are as opulent as any English period drama. The rooms were incredible, if a little bit over the top (my interior decorating style will be slightly less over the top, we're talking hand sculpted porcelain flowers on the walls). There was also an exhibition called 'Cartas al Rey' (The King's Letters) which detailed King Alfonso's XIII involvement in locating missing soldiers in World War I. Next door are the palace's gardens which I bet are spectacular in summer, but still worth a quick meander in winter. There are lots of bushes and sculptures, and again a glimpse of the view that you get from the Palace. I continued heading down the east side of the city to the 'La Latina' district (which is next to Lavapies). If you explore one district in detail, make it this one. It is a lot less touristy than the centre and you feel like you're getting a more authentic experience of Madrid. I walked aimlessly for about 2 hours, winding up and down the streets and just taking in all the beautiful buildings and squares.

I ended up in 'La China Mandarina', a cosy café with muchas magazines for your reading pleasure and pretty good coffee as well. I sat here for as long as I could because my feet had begun to hurt again (I think I managed 2 hours) and then continued walking a bit more. I conceded to my feet and went back to the hostel for a couple of hours to research places for dinner. I knew I wanted to try some tapas. I looked on TripAdvisor and a place called 'Lamiak' caught my eye. I walked and ended up back in 'La Latina' on a street called 'Calle Cava Baja'. The food was delicious and not too expensive. After I walked up the street and it seems like all the tapas places were located on this Calle. I wanted a dessert so I made my way to 'Mercardo de San Miguel' which is just through one of the arches at 'Plaza Mayor'. Its an indoor food market with A LOT of options. I'd seen it whilst walking through the city on the other days but it was always too crowded for me to want to enter. 10 o'clock on a Monday evening is apparently the best time to go if you're not crazy about crowds. I bought 4 tiny pastries (a lemon tart, a raspberry tart, a chocolate tart and an opera style thing, and before you judge me, know that they were really tiny). It was the stand 'Horno de San Onofre'. I really liked it because it kind of reminded me of Brick Lane food market on a slightly smaller scale.

So, in conclusion I would say you can see a lot of the city in 3 days if you jam pack your days. If you don't want to be surrounded by people and tourists explore out of the centre (stating the obvious here). I really enjoyed walking around the southern district 'La Latina' and the north in 'Chamberí' (away from all the people). If you go to one museum make it 'Thyssen-Bornemisza' and the view from the 'Rosaleda del Parque del Oeste' was stunning. If you're looking for a short city break I would definitely recommend Madrid, you won't be short of things to do.